Prevent Injuries with Diet, Weight Management & Exercise

Most companies have injury prevention programs in place that will cover topics such as lifting, proper equipment or attire, but not often do these programs cover eating and exercise, which are important aspects of injury prevention.

We all know about eating healthy to keep out hearts strong and/or to lose weight and feel good. Most of us however, don’t take the time to think of eating as a form of injury prevention. Rock hard abs aren’t just for show. They can also help you to remain injury free.  Having a strong “core” will alleviate stress on the back, reducing back injuries. Engaging your “core” muscles in all of your activities (not just lifting) will help keep you strong and as injury free as possible. Think about flexing your abdominal muscles when you do things as mundane as getting out of your chair. You know you want to try it when you get off of the computer.

Staying at a healthy weight will also keep unwanted stress off of your joints. There is no lack of gravity, so you don’t need to worry about weighing yourself down. Have you ever seen a pick-up truck loaded down with a heavy load and thought “those poor shocks”? Well, it is the same thing for your joints. Any excess weight  that you might be carrying is going to work against you, and eventually break you down. More…

Don’t Let your Employees Return to Work ‘Broken’

When an employee gets hurt on the job and goes on Worker’s Comp, they usually just end up sitting at home all day long waiting for their injury to heal so that they can go back to work. In most cases, the employee’s regular job is a very physically demanding one that keeps them fairly healthy. But when they get injured, their job becomes a far more sedentary one. This sudden shift to a sedentary lifestyle can be detrimental to their body and overall health, including a wide spectrum of different types of diseases and disorders affecting all parts of the body. Some of the risks can be increased by as much as 50% or more.

A few examples of these risks include:

  • Musculoskeletal Disorders: Low Back Pain, Osteoarthritis, Bone Fractures, Connective Tissue Tears, Osteoporosis
  • Cardiovascular Disorders: Hypertension (High Blood Pressure), Congestive heart Failure, Atherosclerosis (Hardening of Arteries), Coronary Heart Disease, Hypercholesterolemia (High Cholesterol), Cardiomyopathy (any disease affecting structure and function of heart)
  • Metabolic Disorders: Overweight, Obesity, Diabetes
  • Cancer: Breast, Colon, Lung, Prostate
  • Pulmonary Diseases: Emphysema, Asthma, Chronic Bronchitis
  • Psychological Disorders: Depression, Mood, Anxiety

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Promote a Healthy and Active Lifestyle for Your Employees

With this very fast paced job world it is very important to remember the environment that is being promoted in your workplace. Your employee’s health is often linked to the environment and the health of the company. The benefits of having healthy employees can produce increased job satisfaction, improved morale, reduced illness and injuries, and increased productivity. Creating a healthy environment is not hard, expensive or time consuming. Any business or organization can promote a healthy workplace. Here are some suggestions to get you started in the right direction:

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Conquering Back Pain with Physical Activity

More than 80 percent of adults experience back pain at some point in their lives. In the past, it was commonly believed that rest was important for recovery from back pain. However, that is just not the case. Resting through a back injury can prolong your recovery. The longer you rest, the harder it becomes to resume your regular activities.The good news is that most back pain resolves if you treat it by being active. Staying active, as well as practicing good mechanics such as proper posture and lifting techniques, speeds up the recovery process and decreases the risk of chronic disability.Inactivity can prolong pain. When we are inactive, we become stiff, and our muscles and bones weaken. We can become depressed, and the pain can feel worse.

The earlier you get active, the sooner you’ll be able to resume your regular activities.

Pain_Diagram.jpg
Source: Healthy Alberta

Being active is key to recovering from back pain. Understanding your pain and the benefits of staying active will help to ease your fears of causing further harm and will enable you to take an active role in recovery and prevention. Finding activities you enjoy will help you to recover quickly and to prevent future flare-ups.

When you allow your employees to stay at home and not remain active, it increases their time away from work. Our Health and Wellness Rooms address these issues in a positive and encouraging environment. With trained medical staff in each room, your employee will be encouraged within their restrictions to remain productive. This helps the employee maintain good mental health. Contact Proof:Positive and let us help you keep your injured employees active while enhancing their sense of confidence and well-being.

Obesity and Healing: Educate your Employees

Obesity is an obstacle that many Americans face, and combining that with the recovery from an injury severely impacts the healing process. Results from a new study in Columbus, Ohio suggest that extremely obese people are more likely than normal-weight people to injure themselves. With this statistic looming, it is vital that we don’t let our injured go on without having the opportunity to change their lifestyle. While prevention is important, education after the fact is essential. Proof:Positive can help employers with new ideas to keep their employees healthy and fit, which can statistically decrease the number of work injuries.

Obesity combined with a simple knee injury, or even a complex surgery, is going to prolong the healing process severely. Obesity falls into an interference with wellness that is not always accounted for by claims adjusters. Although with anti-discriminatory laws you cannot force a diet or weight loss program to those who are overweight or mandate a smoker to quit, studies show that employees and employers favor a program that would educate, and even provide facilities to promote weight management and programs for weight loss. Participants of this survey were asked to disclose to what degree they favor specific health care and work policy blue prints for treating and preventing adult obesity. Seventy-three percent favored a move by health care companies to require obesity treatment and prevention. The same proportion favored beneficiary discounts by employers or health care companies to motivate individuals to maintain or move toward a healthy weight.

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Knowledge is Contagious – Give Your Employees the Forum to Learn

Many factors affect our health. Some are beyond our control, such as genetic makeup and age – but we can make changes to our lifestyle. By encouraging your employees to take steps toward healthy living, you can help reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke and other serious diseases. Obvious practices are to eat well, maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and see a doctor for regular screenings.  

Incorporating these practices into lifestyles and routines can be difficult for those people who don’t realize their significance. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a place where your employees can learn this information while on the job and also have it available to your injured employees?  A Health and Wellness Room can help employees learn about a healthy lifestyle, which in return produces a healthy and productive employee. Knowledge is contagious and when one employee shares his knowledge about health or safety, it spreads to others.

Proof:Positive can provide your employee with a wealth of knowledge that will spread throughout your business. Proof:Positive can decrease your workers compensation costs through preventative measures or by educating the injured. All this can be done while they remain on normal payroll so lost time is reduced. Let us help you create a workplace filled with informed employees who are motivated to perform their duties safely.

Exercise Your Way To a Healthier Life and a Better Time at Work

There are 1,440 minutes in every day. Schedule 30 of those for physical activity! Regular exercise is an important element in staying healthy. Living longer and feeling better is a result of being active. Exercising can help you maintain a healthy weight and also delay or prevent diabetes, some cancers, and heart problems.

On the average, most adults need at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least five days a week. There are many forms of exercise that people take for granted, such as walking briskly, mowing the lawn, dancing, recreational swimming or going for a bike ride. Developing good weight training and stretching programs can also increase your health.

The best way to come up with a good exercise plan is to think of the things that you enjoy doing so you are more likely to stay motivated. You can walk with a friend, take a class or plan a group or family bike ride. Remember, if you have been inactive for awhile, you should start slow and work your way up to a regular exercise routine.

Not only will you begin to see the benefits in your health, but you will see it on the job as well. When you’re healthy you can focus better, have more energy, and have the strength to lift objects at work. We all put our bodies through a strenuous workout on a daily basis – just sitting at our desk can take a toll on our bodies. Strengthening and exercising our bodies allows us to withstand the stress and physical demands of working and living so we can achieve a healthy lifestyle.

Maintaining Your Youth – “Use it or Lose it”

To many people, growing older means that life will slowly go downhill -but it doesn’t have to be that way.  The misconception most have of aging as “a time of gradual loss of function” isn’t necessarily accurate.  While aging is inevitable, loss of function isn’t. Much of the decline in our ability to function at the level of your youth (i.e. walk, run, climb stairs, or even work a physically demanding job) is due to inactivity – not aging – and can be prevented. When it comes to strength, energy, and fitness, the old saying still applies: “use it or lose it.”

The benefits of regular activity have been studied and well documented. Exercise strengthens muscles and maintains joint flexibility. It can lower cholesterol, blood pressure, and the risk of osteoarthritis, and help maintain healthy blood glucose levels. In addition, exercise can also help you lose weight, reduce stress, and improve sleep, digestion, circulation, energy levels and self-esteem. Finally, regular exercise can help you to function better – at home and at the job – and remain independent (as you age) in spite of health problems.

The good news is that it is never too late to start exercising. Everyone can benefit from regular physical activity. But it is older people who have more at stake as they struggle to manage chronic health issues and maintain independence. The people most successful at aging are those who are physically active.  Even a little physical activity can have great benefits for health and well-being.

By “physically active,” the Surgeon General recommends 1-hour of moderate activity (like brisk walking) on five or more days of the week. The 1-hour can be accomplished in one stretch or in a few short bursts. Muscle strengthening and flexibility exercises are also important to a complete activity program. 

As always, it is imperative that you talk with your physician before starting any exercise program. There may be some activities or exercises that you should avoid, and you should know about them ahead of time. On-the-job-injuries also become more common as employees age. For preventative measures, keeping your muscles flexible helps your joints maintain the range of motion (ROM) needed to complete daily activities, while on the job. 

There are many resources out there should you have any questions or concerns about your exercise program. A physical therapist, exercise physiologist or an occupational therapist can help you get started on an exercise program designed specifically for you. Theses professionals have special training in creating exercise routines and can teach you how to do you program correctly and safely.

Lastly, conditioning builds your endurance so that you feel fatigue less quickly and are better able to tolerate prolonged activity -if working a physically demanding job. Conditioning assures that you have enough energy to complete your everyday tasks and those activities that bring you joy to your life, such as golf, a game of basketball and playing with the grandchildren.

Remember, while accidents do happen, being educated on the fundamentals of reducing workplace injuries and having strength, energy and fitness will ultimately prevent further accidents from happening – especially those repeat occurrences.

If you are interested in finding out more about Proof:Positive Consulting and the services we provide, please contact us.

Mental Attitude Can Have a Positive Affect on Physical Health

Studies show that your mental health can influence your physical health. And certain personality traits – such as optimism or pessimism – can influence how well you live and even how long you live. It is important to create a positive atmosphere for your employees. It also very important to create that same environment for your injured employees. Having a positive mental outlook can also help promote healing. It is easy to forget about the physiological and psychological affects that an injury has on an employee.

Researchers evaluated results from a personality test taken by participants more than 30 years ago and compared them to the sudsequent mortality rates. They found that people who scored high on optimism had a 50 percent lower risk of premature death than those who scored more pessimistic. Besides a lowered risk of early death, researchers found other health benefits related to positive attitude. In the study, optimist reported:

  • Fewer problems with work or other daily activities because of physical or emotional health
  • Less pain and fewer limitations due to pain
  • Less interference from physical or emotional problems when engaging in social activities
  • Increased energy
  • Feeling more peaceful, happier and calmer

Source: FemHealth.com

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High Fiber Diet Leads to a Healthy Colon

Eating a high fiber diet can drastically reduce:

  • colon cancers
  • polyps
  • rectal abscesses
  • and pockets of inflammation

These can be irritating and painful, and affect productivity at work. Eat whole grains, fruit, or take a fiber supplement to insure you are eating correctly. The general rule of thumb for determining if you have enough fiber in your diet: does it sink or swim? Ask your nutritionist or medical doctor for further information.

What you can do if you’re an employer:

  • consider high fiber options for your vending machines
  • encourage employee’s to have annual checkups
  • post healthy eating information on employee bulletin boards
  • create an educational program for your employees outlining healthy eating habits (contact Proof:Positive for more information or consulting options)